Blueberry Consultants

BACKGROUND

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

• Deliver a near real-time dashboard to allow internal and external stakeholders to view critical environmental information.
• Integrate with our IoT product to collect and digest and store data.

SOLUTION

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Demonstrated previous similar projects

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Lares Digital, a digital receptionist service company offering front-of-house services through interactive displays

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blueberry Consultants, and what were your goals?

The two main technical issues we were facing were:

• Creating a reliable the video-switchboard function directing calls to the first available member of staff
• Ensuring that transactions are fast and of good quality (quick connection, good video quality).

A number of peripheral but critical issues also needed resolving, such as ad-hoc API connections on a per-transaction basis, telemetry etc.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were lucky to find Blueberry Consultants through a Google search. Martin, the CEO, immediately understood the challenges we were facing and had some early constructive input. They proactively started doing feasibility studies and built a proof-of-concept solution within a few days to confirm they would be able to deliver, ahead of us talking about any financial agreement. The results-oriented discussion was very reassuring.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Blueberry consultants have built their own development platform. While this was a little bit of a concern originally, it was very easy to see the strong advantages this brought, as they were able to turn around a largely bug-free alpha version within just a few weeks.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

1 project manager is the sole point of contact. He has full understanding of our requirements and coordinates a team of colleagues according to their own specialties. On occasion one of the developers can be called upon to interact with us directly to resolve side-issues

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The development process was incredibly smooth to date. The team has excellent project management and quality control protocols in place. So far all deadlines have been met on budget, contrary to all my expectations (based on previous, other relationships)

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Blueberry consultants took enough time at the scoping stage, to fully understand each component of my requirements and were able to accurately forecase development timelines and costs. The sole point of contact is a great advantage as well, as he has the full functional overview of the project and is able to then delegate modular building tasks to his in-house specialists.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Excellent communication! Their high professionalism allows them to acknowledge without fear when they run into problems or delays (always minor so far). I much prefer to work in a transparent environment than one where problems are glossed over.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a Formula 1 racing team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Blueberry Consultants?

Our aerodynamics department was working on a project, and we didn’t have enough resources to complete it. So, we were looking to got an external software development house.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We set the specifications, and Blueberry Consultants is developing the platform for us. Since working with them, we’ve grown the system into other areas of the department and added more functions.

What is the team composition?

We always have a project manager and 1–2 developers. Our main developer has been the same person since we began working together. We always have a project manager, but the person has changed a few times.

How did you come to work with Blueberry Consultants?

We knew communication would be easier if we worked with a local software consultancy, so we could meet in person to demonstrate things when needed. We evaluated 3–4 other companies, but they stood out because they created a proof of concept based on our preliminary specifications. It demonstrated that they understood what we wanted and what their team is capable of.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2013 and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our old system only covered 30% of our processes, but we’ve been able to increase it to nearly 100%. There have been very few instances in which they didn’t deliver what we wanted, but they responded to our feedback quickly and were able to correct it. We’ve never had to roll back an update after it’s been launched. In hypersensitive software projects like ours, it’s difficult to translate a user requirement into a working system. Nevertheless, they’ve done a great job.

How did Blueberry Consultants perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a great relationship with both our project manager and the lead developer. During our weekly catch-up call, they let us know what they’re working on or are just touching base. Our manager does a great job communicating between our team and the developers, which can be tricky to manage. Still, we’re able to reach out to the developer directly if the project manager is unavailable.

In addition to our weekly calls, we receive emails from them and casual text messages. They also use Trello and an internal work tracking system. We have access to these tools so we can monitor project progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The project manager talks to us directly and has created a really great working relationship. We never argue about specifications, rather, they listen to what we need and are able to capture it. When we need them to change things or make tweaks, they’re very pragmatic. They also never nickel and dime us, because they know what we need.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Some of the technology choices we made at the beginning of the project are now out of date. We’ve also found a few significant bugs during testing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’m a developer as well, so we have a common language and can communicate well. I still think if you don’t have that background, the partnership will still go well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Creative Lighthouse is a health and social care consultancy, with a focus on workforce planning and transformation, safe staffing and cost improvement. As co-founder and director of Creative Lighthouse, my vision is for health and social care to work together seamlessly to put the person at the centre of care, using their greatest asset - their workforce.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blueberry Consultants?

The health care sector faces a conflict between safe staffing and the (government) directive to be cost efficient.  In a time of clinical staff shortages, increasing demand for services and financial austerity there is a need for a consistent approach to workforce analysis, benchmarking and planning across the health and social care sector to enable informed decision making across finance, HR and nursing management. We had a prototype of an idea and approached Blueberry to see if they could make our idea a reality.

What were your goals for this project?

Creative Lighthouse wanted to create a workforce planning and benchmarking solution in response to frustration at the focus on financially led decisions in health and social care management that did not consider the safety and care of patients or staff. We set out to build a platform that would allow all management groups in the health and social care sector to collaborate on safe staffing, cross-boundary workforce planning, benefits realisation and financial governance. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We has previously worked with another organisation, who despite recommendations could not deliver to the specification - and cost us significant money as a small start-up enterprise. We identified Blueberry through a combination of recommendation and a number of meetings to make sure the team really understood what we wanted to achieve, and they provided us with a dedicated project manager and development team to ensure we could work together to deliver the end product we were looking for.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We provided them with a spreadsheet and rough specification - they took our ideas and worked with us to come up with a thorough specification with consideration of technical issues we hadn't even considered. We may well be experts in workforce planning and safe staffing - but not in software development! Blueberry guided us through the process, gave a clear project plan and we met weekly to update and ensure we were on track. The first phase of development gave us a product we could present to the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE), for which we received endorsement in April 2017, and also allowed us to apply for and be awarded a grant for Innovate UK to develop our product further to include benchmarking and cross-sector workforce planning.

What was the team composition?

The project team was led by a dedicated project manager and lead devloper, with additional team members depending on the phase of the project. As a small organisation we were very conscious of finances and also needing to deliver to a timeline and budget by Innovate UK, so we had weekly meetings, both as a team and as individual 'work packages' to ensure we were keeping to time but also encompassing feedback and changes as the project went on.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The key to the success of Creative Lighthouse is the development and delivery of Establishment Genie. It is our core product which has given access to multiple sectors across health and social care, with the impact of improved quality of care, better governance and the ability for multidisciplinary teams to work across boundaries to provide a better workforce to respond the needs of their populations.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was key to the delivery of the project. We were a difficult and precise customer when it came to outputs, and we needed guidance to help us navigate and understand the world of software development. We worked in both a waterfall and agile style, based around different work packages in line with a defined set of budgets and timelines.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their patience! Joking aside, the project's keys to success have been the understanding, transparency, and input from senior team members. The development team also delivers as close to specification as possible.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In honesty, the biggest issue was us! There were times when we were running out of money, so needed to recast our finances and look for other sources to be able to complete the project, so the delays were with us. This meant that we had to wait for the same developers to become free again to keep up the speed of delivery and understanding of the system. We also had a really rigourous testing plan. In hindsight, and now knowing more about how the product is used, we should have taken more heed of the advice Blueberry gave us and gone to market more quickly, rather than waiting for 'perfect'

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the managing director of a start-up medicinal product procurement company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Blueberry Consultants?

I hired Blueberry Consultants to design and build a product that integrates healthcare item ordering across multiple user and supplier systems.

What were your goals for this project?

We were hoping to complete the project in six months. Afterward, we wanted an immediate rollout to healthcare professionals, product users, and suppliers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found Blueberry Consultants through internet searches and phone conversations with a number of vendors. This eventually led to face-to-face meetings and project discussions.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Blueberry Consultants designed the software product based on my requirements and guidance. Their team also offered advice on areas of development and tweaks to the overall build plan.

What was the team composition?

During initial discussions, we spoke with their managing director and senior project managers. Later, we started communicating with a single senior project manager who had experience with niche areas of software development.

The project included several integrations across a number of platforms. In some cases, interactions with outdated technologies required support from outside specialists.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our business is entirely dependent on the software that Blueberry Consultants developed. Their work has allowed our company to grow, and many Irish healthcare professionals use their platform daily.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Blueberry Consultants placed a strong emphasis on outlining the project in great detail prior to development. This reduced the number of work hours and allowed for a smoother, steadier build. Due to their accurate project planning, they met every milestone.

Blueberry Consultants used a ticketing system to manage project tasks and provide ongoing reports. We held project meetings on a regular basis to ensure that everything was proceeding as planned.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were open to our initial plan while also providing alternative points of view. Their recommendations proved to be vital for improving the overall development process.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There’s nothing that I can add in terms of areas for improvement.